Summary of Meet the Scholar: Nancy Rothbard

00:00:00 - 00:25:00

Nancy Rothbard is a scholar who researches the implications of social media interactions, specifically how people are unwilling to cross boundaries between work and non-work life when these worlds are colliding. She also examines how self-disclosure, hierarchy, and gender play a role in people's willingness to take the risk of connecting with a colleague.

• 00:00:00 Nancy Rothbard is a professor of management at the Univeristy of Washington in Seattle. She is the author of a recent paper in the Academy of Management Journal called "OMG my boss just friended me! I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that this is a positive interaction."
• 00:05:00 In this paper, Nancy Rothbard looks at how people connect with their co-workers online social media platforms, specifically how people are unwilling to cross boundaries between work and non-work life when these worlds are colliding. She also examines how self-disclosure, hierarchy, and gender play a role in people's willingness to take the risk of connecting with a colleague.
• 00:10:00 The research presented in this paper aimed to explore the prevalence of boundary blurring actions on social media platforms, and the perceptual implications of those actions. The first study found that 66% of Facebook users were connected with work colleagues, and the second study found that 89% of respondents perceived various activities as blurring the personal/professional boundaries.
• 00:15:00 The study found that people are more likely to connect with others when they disclose more information.
• 00:20:00 The study found that female bosses who disclose personal information are more likely to be accepted by male bosses, but female bosses who do not disclose information are still seen as cold and shunned. Additionally, the study found that when most boundary management research has looked at the preferences of the focal person, the domain has been undifferentiated, but the study identified relational boundary management aspects that need to be progressed.
• 00:25:00 Nancy Rothbard is a scholar who researches and is cautious about her disclosures. She has lots of fun facts about herself, including that she walks a lot and reads a lot. She encourages others to find out where she is on social media and to send her a friend request.